Years ago, I was thrown into a situation no parent wants to face—my daughter asked for help, and the people we turned to, friends and professionals, gave us a chain of instructions:

Take her to a therapist. Take her to the police. Go to court.

We followed each step. And at first, it looked like we had done everything right.

But then we were blindsided.

An unexpected court filing flipped the case against us. It happened behind closed doors, and by the time we found out, it was too late to get ahead of it. We were unprepared—not because we didn’t care, but because I had put my full trust in a professional who was working with limited information and limited tools.

I expected a complete solution from someone who wasn’t part of a complete team. That was my mistake.

That’s when I realized:

Being “right” doesn’t matter if you’re not prepared—and no one professional can carry the whole plan alone.

Had I mapped every possibility, built contingencies, and coordinated the right people at the right time, we wouldn’t have been reacting.

We would’ve been dictating the pace.

Most People Don’t Plan—They Respond

Since then, I’ve gone deep into systems thinking, flowcharting, and crisis modeling. I don’t just see situations—I envision scenarios. And what I’ve learned is this:

Most people don’t define their goals. They don’t map out decision trees. They don’t build processes that scale with them—they just keep pushing harder. And they definitely don’t pay someone to poke holes in their plan.

That’s why most people get caught off guard.

It’s not that they didn’t care—it’s that they didn’t build the infrastructure for anything to work under pressure.

This doesn’t just apply to personal crises. It’s everywhere in business.

• Growth without strategy leads to stress.

• Risk without assessment leads to exposure.

• Systems without design lead to chaos. 

• A system that can’t take a hit isn’t protection—it’s decoration.

Your Lawyer, Your CPA—They’re Not Enough

People often assume that once they’ve hired a professional—a lawyer, a CPA, or a consultant—they’re protected. But the truth is, every professional is a specialist. They operate within a defined lane, and most don’t step outside it.

Your lawyer will review a contract—but only if you bring it to them.

Your CPA might handle your taxes—but the average CPA isn’t thinking strategically about your structure, liability, or long-term goals.

And while a consultant should help uncover problems you don’t see, most are operating without the full picture or the right framework.

That’s the real issue. You’re not just missing answers—you’re missing alignment.

I’ve seen this play out in both personal and business crises:

Not because someone hired the wrong professional—but because the plan never existed in the first place. No strategy. No team. No system for identifying and mitigating risk before it shows up.

That’s why a good strategy isn’t reactive. It’s preventative.

And it doesn’t come from one expert—it comes from assembling the right structure before the pressure hits.

Why I Started Field Notes

This space isn’t about fear. It’s about clarity.

Field Notes exists to help you think differently—so you can move smarter. I’ll break down laws, rulings, case studies, and patterns in the world around us. Not just to inform, but to give you tools:

• What does this mean for your business?

• How do you use it to your advantage?

• What’s one step you can take today that protects your tomorrow?

If you’ve ever felt like you were reacting when you should’ve been leading—this is for you.

Because when you have a strategy, you don’t need to scramble.

You just execute.

Patrick